Ellon U16's progressed in to the semi-final of the Caley cup on Sunday with a convincing win at the Meadows over local rivals Mackie. The game started at a hectic pace with several hard tackles made by both sides. Constant Ellon pressure led to a penalty 10 metres from the Mackie line and a well-rehearsed set piece saw scrum half Nathan Shirron take a quick pass to stand off George Goodenough who offloaded to Ross Greig at centre taking the ball at full pace and crashing through the Mackie defence for a try. Unfortunately the conversion was missed. Score 5 - 0. A few minutes later, and only 10 minutes into the game, disaster struck as Goodenough took a knee to the face in a tackle which resulted in a double fracture of the cheekbone and an immediate hospital visit. This was a very nasty injury and naturally rattled the team. When time was eventually re-started the necessary team shuffle saw Greig move to no 10, full back Henry come in to centre and Ryan Grant, 1st time back after long term injury, come on to put in a convincing shift at fullback.
Ellon settled down and the forwards had to work hard and so they did - Gregor Pirie, Ed Rees and Fraser Cruickshank leading the way. Ellon won a penalty scored by Shirron so score moved to 8-0. Soon after, the forwards won a turnover and a quick clear out by Archie Andrade to Shirron to Greig to winger Ryan Notton saw a good team try in the corner. Conversion missed so score 13 - 0 at half time. Sensibly the Ellon lads took themselves off to the changing room to re-group after the traumatic 1st half.
In the 2nd half tempers frayed as Ellon pushed for the win and Mackie became frustrated. The killer blow came 15 mins from time when Greig broke through several Mackie players and sidestepped his way to the try line. Duly converted by Shirron, score now 20-0. At this point Ellon lost a couple of players through injury and then another 2 due to yellow cards. They were down to 13 for the last 5 minutes but they held on for a deserved 20-0 win.
Cup semi-final is scheduled for Sunday 5 April at the Meadows, Ellon v Highland.

Just before the U16 game Ellon S1/2 mixed team took on Ross Sutherland. Ross Sutherland was unbeaten this season and only team to score against them has been Orkney. However buoyed on from last weekend’s big wins the Mixed S1/2 team took the game to Ross Sutherland. Hard running and hard tackling gave Ellon a great platform to go on to a 34 7 win! Multiple tries, with strong kicking for goal. All coaches were pleased with the performance and RS coaches praised the Ellon play.

Over in Inverness it was Highland’s Tournament for P4/5 and P6/7. Ellon sent two teams at each age grouping.
At P4\5 both teams were definitely competitive against experienced teams and they were in the top third of each pool (of 4-5 teams). They did not lose games by more than 1-2 tries and each team recording at least 2 wins, with one team missing the semis on try difference. Great effort to put training into practice, offloads and passing was good, but still a little greedy when the try line looms. A work on is the rucking, but with very few infringements the players really starting to understand offside and positioning when passing.
At P6/7 the two teams were in larger groups and played some intense rugby! Playing extremely well, but with the odd moment’s lapse. Both only lost 1 game in the group’s games and made it to the semi-finals, playing Huntly and Caithness. Unfortunately both just missed out on the final. The teams should be very pleased with themselves and the intensity work they have been working on has really been playing off. Next work on is for all players to maintain 100 % concentration and intensity for the duration of each match. Ellon Gold, played Nairn wining 3 – 0, Caithness losing 1 – 0, Ross Sutherland wining 4 – 1, Highland wining 4 – 1 and finally Moray wining 3 – 2. The Semi was against a very strong Huntly team who had already beaten Ellon Red. Despite a valiant effort Huntly won 1 – 4.

Up this coming weekend Ellon P2 – P7 host their home tournament with 500 children coming to Ellon for on the NE’s top events. Action starts at the Meadows at 10:30 and finishes with a presentation at 14:00. Because of this event, Ellon U15 are having to move their plate quarter final to Peterhead Catteo Park to play Mackie.

There were no senior games last weekend or this one coming. However Matthew Emmison who is the club Modern Apprentice and has played at Ellon from age 4 to 17 (now at Shire) played his first game for Scotland! Coming on from the bench as Hooker against Japan U19. He played again on Wednesday 18th also.